’51 Roadmaster is a big beast

Dan Garala of Torrington, Conn. owns a 1951 Buick Roadmaster, the brand's flagship model. It's loaded with chrome and has many period features, including a clever hood that opens from either side. Garala demonstrates in "My Ride."

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BY BUD WILKINSON | REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

It wasn’t until 1952 that Buick added power steering to its flagship Roadmaster model. Dan Garala of Torrington owns a less easy-to-operate 1951 Roadmaster, though. He bought the black, heavily-chromed model two years ago.

“I’ve been enjoying it even since,” Garala said. “I like the ’50s cars. I like the big cars. Big Cadillacs, Buicks, all of the big cars. At times, as far as parking and stuff, it can be a little tough ’cause there’s no power steering. Other than that, riding down the road it’s just like a regular car. Very comfortable. You can take it anywhere. Runs like brand new.”

Garala would have bought the Buick much sooner given the chance. He recalled being out on his motorcycle one day years earlier. He stopped for coffee and the Roadmaster’s then-owner drove in. “I liked it then and I asked him if he wanted to sell it. Nope. Not selling it,” he said. “Three or four years down the road, the person who owned the car passed away. I didn’t find that out until later but that’s what happened.”

The car ended up on the lot at Rocket Motor Sales and he snagged it. With a wheelbase of 130.3 inches, the Buick is a heavyweight that Garala pegs at 4,400 pounds. By comparison, a new Buick LaCrosse has a wheelbase that’s 15.9 inches shorter and weighs probably 500 pounds less.

The Roadmaster is powered a Fireball 8 straight eight-cylinder engine with about 170 horsepower. It also has a Dynaflow automatic transmission. “It’s not a rocket ship by any means, but you go along the highway, it’ll 70, 80, 90, whatever you want it to do, and it cruises right along with no problem at all,” Garala said.

However, its weight is noticeable at slow speeds. “When you come to a corner or you’re going to turn in some place, you’ve got to turn the wheel two or three times before the thing even starts to move to go in there. I thought about putting power steering in it. I can do it, but I have to have something made up special to put in because it wasn’t offered for that year car,” he said.

The car may eventually get steering system upgrade. “I was going to do it this year but just let it go. Maybe next year,” he said.

Dan Garala’s 1951 Buick Roadmaster is a behemoth with some noticeable and occasionally obsolete features. The dashboard boasts two ashtrays – one for the driver, the other for the passenger – and it has a holder beneath the dash for a box of tissues. The hood, meanwhile, doesn’t open from the front, rather from either side (as demonstrated in the video at wheels.rep-am.com).

Garala likes the car because of its heft. “I like the overall look and I like it because it’s different. There’s a lot of cars out there that are kinda look-alikes. They’re all the same. This is different. It’s a different style car. It rides different. Lot of people look at it, they want to take pictures. They like it. And there’s plenty of room in. It’s a heavy car. It’s like sitting on a living room couch and that’s what I like about it,” he said.

Not only is the front portion of the passenger compartment spacious, so’s the rear with a wide backseat and ample legroom. “You can fit four grown adults in there comfortably, believe it or not,” said Garala, who has actually done so.

The Buick gets attention wherever he takes it. “A lot people like the portholes on the side; they like what looks like a gun sight on the hood; and they like all of the chrome on the car. There’s a lot of chrome on it. You don’t see that on cars anymore. All these things, they stand out; the big tires. Regular cars don’t have all of that stuff anymore,” he said.

Garala does limits his excursions in the 67-year-old Roadmaster to distances of 150 miles or less, primarily because of the lack of power steering. “After your drive it for a while and you park it and you’re stopping and everything else, without the power steering, it gets tiring. As long as you drive it along the road, it’s fine, but when it comes to the turns and the tight maneuvers, then it’s a little tough because it’s a big car. It’s 19 feet long,” he said.

Garala also owns a 1930 Ford Model A, but it’s the Buick that gets more road time. “I bought it to drive and enjoy. It’s not a trailer queen,” he said.